## Facts

- Public school children from New Jersey’s poorest urban districts, through guardians and district officials, challenged the State’s provision of education under the state constitutional requirement of a “thorough and efficient” system of free public schools.
- Prior rulings in the same litigation had held the State’s school-funding system unconstitutional as applied to the designated poor urban (“Abbott”) districts and required funding parity with successful suburban districts plus supplemental programs addressing concentrated disadvantage.
- The Court previously remanded for extensive fact-finding on remedies necessary to achieve a thorough and efficient education in the Abbott districts.
- The trial court developed a record and recommended remedial measures, including universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds, full-day kindergarten, and “whole-school reform” models involving schoolwide changes to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and school culture.
- The State education and fiscal officials and the State Board of Education were responsible for implementing and funding any ordered remedies.

## Issues

1. Whether the state constitutional duty to provide a “thorough and efficient” education in the Abbott districts requires specific remedial programs beyond funding parity, including preschool for three- and four-year-olds and full-day kindergarten.
2. Whether any mandated preschool remedy must be a high-quality educational program (not a daycare-type service) with enforceable standards.
3. Whether the State must support and fund whole-school reform models and ensure their effective implementation in Abbott district schools.

## Decision

- The Court ordered comprehensive remedial measures to ensure a thorough and efficient education for students in the Abbott districts.
- The Court required the provision of preschool for three- and four-year-old children in Abbott districts and mandated full-day kindergarten as part of the constitutional remedy.
- The Court approved and directed implementation of whole-school reform models as a primary method for achieving systemic improvement in Abbott schools.
- The Court held the State must provide the necessary funding—both parity and supplemental amounts—and must support implementation through facilities, transportation, and related services.
- The Court incorporated substantial portions of the trial court’s remedial recommendations developed on remand.

## Legal Principles

- The state education clause requires effective educational opportunity; compliance may require affirmative, programmatic remedies when students face extreme educational disadvantage.
- When a funding system is unconstitutional as applied to high-poverty districts, the remedy may include both parity funding and additional, targeted programs necessary to deliver a thorough and efficient education.
- Early-childhood education and full-day kindergarten may be constitutionally required where the record shows they are necessary to address educational deficits that begin before elementary school.
- Remedial programs must be structured as genuine educational services with adequate quality and standards; minimal custodial care does not satisfy a constitutional education entitlement.
- The State bears ultimate responsibility to fund, implement, and oversee ordered remedies so they function in practice, including provision for ancillary needs that affect access and effectiveness.

## Conclusion

The Court required New Jersey to move beyond paper parity by funding and implementing specific, high-impact remedies—especially early-childhood education, full-day kindergarten, and whole-school reform—because those measures were necessary to provide students in the poorest urban districts the constitutionally guaranteed thorough and efficient education.


Abbott v. Burke, 153 N.J. 480 (1998)